Aaron Blake: Why Winning Back the House is a Tough Task for Democrats

Aaron Blake covers national politics at the Washington Post, where he writes regularly for “The Fix,” the Post’s top political blog. A Minnesota native and summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota, Aaron has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

“The Republicans will have an advantage in partisanship in districts for a long time. That, I think, is indisputable,” said Rob Richie, the executive director of the electoral reform group Fair Vote. Of the Democrats, he said, “I think that they’re probably settling in for a long stay in the minority, unless it’s a really big year.”...

Because Republicans exercise full control (both legislative chambers plus the governorship) of big swing states and blue-leaning states like Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin, they were able to draw congressional maps that strongly favored their party. In the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney won 64 of 104 congressional districts in those six states, despite all of them going for President Obama statewide....